State v. Camerlin
| Decision Date | 19 August 1976 |
| Docket Number | No. 74-136-C,74-136-C |
| Citation | 362 A.2d 759,117 R.I. 61 |
| Parties | STATE v. Louis A. CAMERLIN. A. |
| Court | Rhode Island Supreme Court |
A Superior Court jury found the defendant guilty of a charge that he committed an assault with the intent to murder. The assault took place on the evening of March 27, 1973 in the library of the Adult Correctional Institutions. The victim was Michael Ferreira. Both he and the defendant were serving prison sentences at the time. Sometime after the return of the guilty verdict, the trial justice denied the defendant's motion for a new trial and imposed a 20-year sentence. In his appeal, the defendant claims that the trial justice erred in ruling on several evidentiary matters and in denying his motion for a new trial.
The bulk of the testimony supporting the prosecution's case was given by three witnesses-the victim, a prison guard, and a nurse at the prison hospital. The victim testified that shortly after his arrival in the library, he noticed that Camerlin and several other inmates were standing opposite him. He told the jury that he felt as if they were 'clocking' 1 him and, to avert their stares, he turned around and started to gaze out a window. Within seconds, he said, someone came alongside him and, as he turned to see who it was, he saw Camerlin standing 2 feet to his rear with a ground-down screwdriver in his hand. According to Ferreira, Camerlin then lunged at him stabbing him in the back just below the right shoulder. Upon being struck, Ferreira grasped one of the bars covering the window but gave no outcry. After Camerlin withdrew the screwdriver, he concealed it in his trousers. Ferreira left the library and returned to his cell. Shortly thereafter, he was taken no the prison hospital. Earlier in the evening, Ferreira had refused to purchase marijuana for Camerlin, and Camerlin in return became angry and swore at him.
The guard reported that while on duty in the library he observed Ferreira, Camerlin, and his companions enter the library on the night of the incident. The guard believed that Camerlin's group was 'clocking' him, and he left his post to telephone his supervisor. Upon his return some 5 minutes later, he saw Ferreira leaving the library area. Following Ferreira were Camerlin and his associates. As Ferreira passed the guard, he told the officer to 'watch my back,' but at no time did Ferreira tell the guard that he was injured.
The nurse testified that following Ferreira's admittance to the prison hospital, he was transferred to the State Medical Center, and from there, was brought to St. Joseph's Hospital. He described Ferreira's difficulty as a puncture wound just below the right shoulder, internal bleeding, and a possible collapsed lung.
Camerlin's defense was that of an alibi. Several witnesses testified that at the time of the stabbing Camerlin was not in the library, but rather was with them in another area of the prison. Three of the inmates who were identified as being with Camerlin in the library when the stabbing occurred testified that Camerlin was not with them in the library. Another alleged companion of Camerlin indicated that while he (the companion) had been in the library, he left sometime prior to the stabbing.
Camerlin first contends that the trial justice erred when she permitted the victim to testify as to what a doctor told him regarding his condition and to his description of the treatment he received while at St. Joseph's Hospital. In response to certain questions posed by the prosecutor, Ferreira told the jury that while being treated at the Medical Center the doctor informed him that he was bleeding internally and had a collapsed lung. Later, when asked about his treatment at St. Joseph's Hospital, Ferreira responded by first describing the procedure whereby a tube was inserted in his chest, and then he said: 'Supposedly, this tube was to expand my lung and supposedly, a drainage, or something.' The trial justice denied the defense motion to strike the evidence relating to the internal bleeding, the collapsed lung, and the purpose for the tube's insertion. The motion to strike should have been granted.
Long ago, this court ruled that permitting a patient to report the diagnosis given by his attending physician runs afoul of the rules that bar the use of hearsay and a nonexpert from giving expert testimony. Stuckey v. Rhode Island Co., 42 R.I. 450, 452-53, 108 A. 581, 582-83 (1920). While the trial justice erred, the denial of the motions to strike was not prejudicial. The responses were purely cumulative in the light of other evidence that was presented to the jury. The other evidence is found in the hospital records which indicate that the assault victim suffered a puncture wound and that he had a 10 percent collapse of his right lung. The nurse testified that the weapon penetrated the lung and caused internal bleeding. Consequently, since there was other probative evidence on the same issues to which the erroneously admitted evidence related, the errors complained of were harmless. State v. Duffy, 112 R.I. 276, 283, 308 A.2d 796, 800 (1973); State v. Bennett, 92 R.I. 316, 168 A.2d 282 (1961); State v. Esposito, 73 R.I. 94, 54 A.2d 1 (1947).
During his testimony, the prison nurse informed the jury that Ferreira received 'a puncture wound of (the) right scapula area' which caused internal bleeding. He also went on to explain to the jury that since he could not detect any 'lung sounds,' he suspected that the victim had a collapsed lung. He also told the factfinders that a pneumothorax, or collapsed lung, was a serious condition because it carried with it the risk of death. Camerlin now argues that this testimony should have been stricken because the nurse did not have the requisite competence to bring these matters to the jury's attention.
In the recent cases of State v. Capone, 115 R.I. 426, 347 A.2d 615 (1975), and State v. Cochrane, 114 R.I. 710, 339 A.2d 256 (1975), we stated that the issue of whether a witness may testify as an expert on a particular subject is left to the sound discretion of the trial justice, and this court will not overturn his determination unless he has abused this discretion. It is clear from the record that the trial justice permitted the nurse to testify to his examination of Ferreira only after a proper evidentiary foundation had been laid.
The witness told the jury that he had been practicing his profession since he graduated in 1955 from nursing school. Prior to that date, he...
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